Eric was nervous as he passed the note back down the line of desks in his class. Even at fourteen he felt this was a bit juvenile, but, as a fourteen-year-old, he didn't have any better ideas. He had written one of those goofy "do you like me?" notes to Hank with little tic boxes for yes and no. It wasn't that Eric was nervous to find out if Hank liked boys (Eric actually knew that he did because they'd had a conversation about it a few weeks back), he was just nervous to find out if he was one of the boys that Hank even could like. Eric thought, from what Hank had said, that he could be. Hank said he liked funny boys who were also smart. Eric had always thought of himself as funny and he knew he was towards the top of his class.
None of these thoughts swirling in his head helped him be less nervous though. Although, they did pass the time until Julia, the girl who sat directly behind him, nudged him to pass the note back to him. Eric wondered if he should wait to read it. What if it was bad news? Could he excuse himself to go read it in the bathroom? No, no, no, that would be far weirder. Eric decided to just open it then and there (when was he going to be able to label all of the countries in Europe anyways?).
He couldn't contain his smile when he saw that Hank had checked yes. Eric turned his head back to Hank and was excited to see him smiling back. Not knowing what else to do, Eric gave him a thumbs up. Hank's smile got a little confused, but it stayed there. A thumbs up probably wasn't the most romantic way to say "Glad you like me too," but Eric hadn't had any better ideas.
After class, Eric and Hank walked to their lockers (which were next to each other) together. Eric awkwardly had his hand near Hank's as they walked, but wasn't brave enough to take Hank's hand yet. When the got to the lockers, Eric couldn't bear the quiet anymore and he blurted out, "So are we boyfriends now?"
Hank gave Eric a somewhat pitying, but not unkind, look. "I think we should go on a date first, right?"
"Right, yes, a date, of course!" Eric felt silly. He hadn't thought any of this out. "We should go on one."
Hank smiled, "That'd be nice. What did you have in mind?"
In mind? In MIND? Was Eric supposed to have thought this through already? "Uh well what did you have in mind?" parroted Eric, feeling like an idiot.
Hank laughed, "I thought you were asking me out."
"Uh maybe I'm more asking you to ask me out?" Eric stared down at his feet. This was going so poorly. How could he not be able to think of a single date idea? He had seen movies where this happened before, right? Couldn't he just steal one of those? Somehow he could only think of romcoms where people took each other to weddings and that wasn't something he could ask Hank to since he didn't know anyone getting married. Although, even if he did, he wasn't sure that was the best first date for two fourteen-year-olds.
"Hey," Hank said quietly, "it's okay if you're not ready to go on a date yet. I know it'd be your first one."
Oh right. Great. Eric had managed to share that tidbit of his life with Hank before, hadn't he? Super. "No I'm ready. It's just..." Eric trailed off because he didn't think it would be cute to admit he just hadn't thought this far ahead and was just really flustered. Confidence was supposed to be cute, right?
Hank finished getting his stuff out of his locker as he let Eric have a chance to think. "Well," Hank began, interrupting Eric's spiraling thoughts, "my cousin is getting married this weekend. It's pretty casual, but do you want to come with me?"
Eric's eyes lit up, "Yes, that would be great."
"Cool," Hank said, taking Eric's hand as they walked out the door.
(Prompt by Sonia Soto)
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